Current News in Real Estate.

The median home value in East Boston is $284,900. East Boston home values have gone up 14.1% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 4.5% within the next year. The median list price per square foot in East Boston is $312, which is lower than the Boston average of $443. The median price of homes currently listed in East Boston is $279,900 while the median price of homes that sold is $285,000. The median rent price in East Boston is $1,950, which is lower than the Boston median of $2,400.

East Boston waterfront

On a shoreline marked by craggy piers and fallow industrial land, the first sign of renewal burst from the ground last winter — an apartment and retail complex called Portside at East Pier.

The project on Marginal Street will eventually include more than 560 residences, 70,000 square feet of stores and restaurants, a fitness center, theater room, and public path along the harbor. Its developer had delayed construction for more than a decade, but now is moving forward rapidly as Boston’s population swells.

“This location gives you fabulous views, a five-minute T ride into the city, and a slightly more affordable price,” said Marshall Tycher, copresident of project developer Roseland, a subsidiary of Mack-Cali Realty Corp.

The development is one of several residential projects plotted for a strip of waterfront property poised for dramatic transformation. All told, more than 1,250 apartments and condominiums are approved for construction in coming years, while other developers are buying property with plans to add to that total.

Gerding Edlen, a Portland, Ore., development firm, is planning to build about 250 apartments on a 4-acre parcel on New Street.

The area’s revival started in Maverick Square, where rehabilitation of the MBTA station and development of a neighborhood health center helped attract new retail and dining options. The Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan International Airport, also helped create the East Boston Greenway, a string of parks that will eventually run from Constitution Beach to Piers Park.

The authority owns the property where Portside at East Pier is being constructed and signed a long-term lease to allow that project to proceed.

Thomas Glynn, Massport’s chief executive, said the complex will help bring a more diverse mix of incomes to a neighborhood that has long been one of the city’s poorest. “In East Boston,” he said, “people feel like we would have a stronger community going forward with some more middle- and upper-income housing stock.”

Rents at Portside at East Pier will range between $1,900 a month for a studio and $3,300 for a two-bedroom unit. While not exactly cheap, those rents are several hundred dollars a month less than those for similar units under construction downtown.

Public officials reviewing the plans are pledging that development of the new apartments and condos won’t interfere with access to the harbor.

“My job is to make sure the waterfront doesn’t become like a gated community,” said City Councilor Sal LaMattina, a lifelong East Boston resident. “We want to make sure there’s plenty of retail and community space so people feel welcome into these developments.”